Norway regulators to fine Grindr USD 11.7 mln for alleged data sharing

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said in a statement that it's notified Grindr of its intent to fine the company 100 million Norwegian krone (approximately $11.7 million). The agency said Grindr has the opportunity to comment until 15 February 2021, and then it will make its final decision. The regulators accuse Grindr of illegally sharing users' personal data from the free version of the app with third parties for marketing purposes. The data allegedly shared includes location, profile data ‘and the fact that the user in question is on Grindr,’ according to the statement.

The agency’s preliminary conclusion is that Grindr needs consent to share these personal data and that Grindr's consents were not valid. Additionally, the regulators believe that the fact that someone is a Grindr user speaks to their sexual orientation, and therefore this constitutes special category data that merit particular protection. Grindr users weren't able to exercise real control over the sharing of their data and were pressured into giving consent to the app's privacy policy when using it without being properly informed.

Grindr is seen as a safe space, and many users may wish to be discrete, but that their data may have been shared with an unknown number of third parties. If the fine is finalised, this could be the highest Norwegian Data Protection Authority fine to date. Grindr pushed back against the allegations, saying in a statement to ABC News that the agency's claims ‘date back to 2018 and do not reflect Grindr's current Privacy Policy or practices’.